A well informed, well acted character study of somebody who is misunderstood, and of somebody who is misunderstanding. maurice is five years old, and something of an enigma: he enjoys the normal pursuits of a healthy five year old, but he also writes poetry that is way beyond his years, and exhibits a level of empathy that many adults are incapable of. His Kindergarten teacher is a wannabe poet who can't find her core. In spotting his talent, she is at the same time jealous and protective of it.

The plot is plain, the acting is shallow, the editing is choppy and abrupt, the camera angles are just either too low or too high, too close or too far (very annoying and ineffective).Two very unnecessary full frontal male nude scenes which the story still can be told without them. In the second nude scene, she just took off her clothes like that? Was that got something to do with the recurring words "whores" and "prostitute"? And, what's the deal with that guy who threw candies at the kid? Then, the teacher went to the dance floor with him, even without his apology and with his conceited attitude? What about that really weird dance number the three of them put on? And, the ending? Why kidnapped the kid? What the #$&%? A pretentious movie which unsuccessful at trying to make something out of nothing. A weird kid and a weird teacher who are both acting weird under weird direction along with weird editing don't make an interesting movie, rather on the contrary... Just a weird movie!It's not art and definitely not entertainment.

"The Kindergarten Teacher (2014 release from Israel; 120 min.) brings the story of Nira, a kindergarten teacher, and Yoav, a 5 yr. old boy in her class. As the movie opens, we see Nira talking to her husband about the remarkable gift the boy has, spewing poetry at any given time. The boy's nanny confides that she is using the boy's poets at her auditions. Meanwhile, Nira and the boy grow ever closer. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this is the second movie from up-and-coming writer-director Nadav Lepid, who previously brought us "Policeman". In the DVD extras, he discloses in an interview that the story is mostly auto-biographical, to my surprise. Turns out that Lepid as a young boy went around proclaiming poetry out of nowhere. As to the relationship between Nira and the boy, once it becomes clear how protective she feels about the boy, the only question that remains is how far she will take it... The two main characters are portrayed beautifully by Sarit Larry as Nira, and even more impressive is Avi Schnaidman as the young boy. In the director's interview in the DVD bonus materials, he explains how they went about casting for the role of the young boy.I don't think this movie ever saw a US theatrical release 9and if it did, it never came to Cincinnati), which is a darn shame. I picked this up while browsing the foreign movie section at my local library. I continue to be impressed with the quality of movies coming out of Israel. For such a small country, they sure do have some great movies. If you are in the mood for a high-quality "all talk, no action" movie, you cannot go wrong with "The Kindergarten Teacher".

The other is the spectator. You may be tempted to say that the film is incomplete for its pessimistic ending, as truth spans the time, when clearly you have to complete it yourself. Just as the teacher has to complete her purpose. Apparently the film tries to tell us that the immaterial has no match in value for the social mentality against the material pursuit. But the author uses the duality of the teacher and the child, of its creation and the audience to create connotation. Duality means one. The teacher and the kid are one. She behaves that way. In such a subtle manner when she takes the kid's poems as her own. "What is love?" trying to prepare the kid. The teacher knows, but she is not. She is the reasoning, the will, the courage. "I don't know" candidly replies to the teacher. The kid does not know, but he is. He is the poet, the poetry, the face of love."Si senor, co-ro-na de cris-ta-les (yeah, yeah, yeah)" is just how the film spectacularly sustains the failure to save such an invisible treasure.